BeadRider was started by Nancy Collins and her boyfriend and riding partner, Chris Sakala in early 2001. People often ask them how they got into the bead business. As either one of them will tell you, it certainly was not planned.

They are both motorcycling enthusiasts and enjoy touring, Nancy on her Honda Magna, Chris on his BMW R1100RT. One evening, they were having dinner with Rob and Tina Hollaender, the owners of Motolight. As the conversation frequently does, they began talking about motorcycling and riding. At that time, both Rob and Chris were having problems getting comfortable in the saddles of their BMW’s. Rob recalled how he had just read a review of all different types of seats, including gel pads, air seats, foam pads and, of course, wooden beads. The magazine rated wooden beads as the most effective and the most affordable. They decided to try them out.

They started looking around and found beaded seats were available for motorcycles, but they were either too small or wouldn’t fit the saddle right. They decided to buy the large car seats made of wooden beads and simply cut them to shape. This seemed like a good idea but clearly was not. The seats were great while they lasted. But both Rob and Chris experienced “bead failure” resulting in the seats coming apart while on long rides with beads going everywhere.

Nancy decided the only way to do it right, was to start from scratch and hand sew each seat to fit a specific saddle. She also decided to reinforce the weave to help the seat withstand the wear of motorcycle riding. The seat also had to be able to withstand constant exposure to inclement weather. We have changed and perfected the system over time, and the result is a strong, tough set of beads that will hold up to the rigors of motorcycle riding and will fit your saddle. Both of us have comfortably logged 1,000 mile days on our BeadRider seats and we hope they will make your ride longer and cooler.